I recd some days ago your letter of June 30, and the printed Circular to
which it refers.

The liberal appropriations made by the Legislature of Kentucky for a
general system of Education cannot be too much applauded. A popular Government,
without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to
a Farce or a Tragedy, or, perhaps both. Knowledge will for ever govern
ignorance. And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves
with the power which knowledge gives.

I have always felt a more than ordinary interest in the destinies of
Kentucky. Among her earliest settlers were some of my particular friends and
Neighbors. And I was myself among the foremost advocates for submitting to the
Will of the "District" the question and the time of its becoming a separate
member of the American family. Its rapid growth & signal prosperity in this
character have afforded me much pleasure, which is not a little enhanced by the
enlightened patriotism which is now providing for the State a Plan of Education
embracing every class of Citizens, and every grade & department of
Knowledge. No error is more certain than the one proceeding from a hasty &
superficial view of the subject that the people at large have no interest in
the establishment of Academies, Colleges, and Universities, where a few only,
and those not of the poorer classes can obtain for their sons the advantages of
superior education. It is thought to be unjust that all should be taxed for the
benefit of a part, and that too the part least needing it.

If provision were not made at the same time for every part, the
objection would be a natural one. But, besides the consideration when the
higher Seminaries belong to a plan of general education, that it is better for
the poorer classes to have the aid of the richer by a general tax on property,
than that every parent should provide at his own expence for the education of
his children, it is certain that every Class is interested in establishments
which give to the human mind its highest improvements, and to every Country its
truest and most durable celebrity.

Learned Institutions ought to be favorite objects with every free
people. They throw that light over the public mind which is the best security
against crafty & dangerous encroachments on the public liberty. They are
the nurseries of skilful Teachers for the schools distributed throughout the
Community. They are themselves schools for the particular talents required for
some of the Public Trusts, on the able execution of which the welfare of the
people depends. They multiply the educated individuals from among whom the
people may elect a due portion of their public Agents of every description,
more especially of those who are to frame the laws, by the perspicuity, the
consistency, and the stability, as well as by the just & equal spirit of
which the great social purposes are to be answered.

Without such Institutions, the more costly of which can scarcely be
provided by individual means, none but the few whose wealth enables them to
support their sons abroad can give them the fullest education, and in
proportion as this is done, the influence is monopolized which superior
information every where possesses. At cheaper & nearer seats of Learning
parents with slender incomes may place their sons in a course of education
putting them on a level with the sons of the Richest. Whilst those who are
without property, or with but little, must be peculiarly interested in a System
which unites with the more Learned Institutions, a provision for diffusing
through the entire Society the education needed for the common purposes of
life. A system comprizing the Learned Institutions may be still further
recommended to the more indigent class of Citizens by such an arrangement as
was reported to the General Assembly of Virginia, in the year 1779, by a
Committee* appointed to revise laws in order to adapt them to
the genius of Republican Government. It made part of a "Bill for the more
general diffusion of knowledge" that wherever a youth was ascertained to
possess talents meriting an education which his parents could not afford, he
should be carried forward at the public expence, from seminary to seminary, to
the completion of his studies at the highest.

But why should it be necessary in this case, to distinguish the Society
into classes according to their property? When it is considered that the
establishment and endowment of Academies, Colleges, and Universities are a
provision, not merely for the existing generation, but for succeeding ones
also; that in Governments like ours a constant rotation of property results
from the free scope to industry, and from the laws of inheritance, and when it
is considered moreover, how much of the exertions and privations of all are
meant not for themselves, but for their posterity, there can be little ground
for objections from any class, to plans of which every class must have its turn
of benefits. The rich man, when contributing to a permanent plan for the
education of the poor, ought to reflect that he is providing for that of his
own descendants; and the poor man who concurs in a provision for those who are
not poor that at no distant day it may be enjoyed by descendants from himself.
It does not require a long life to witness these vicissitudes of fortune.

It is among the happy peculiarities of our Union, that the States
composing it derive from their relation to each other and to the whole, a
salutary emulation, without the enmity involved in competitions among States
alien to each other. This emulation, we may perceive, is not without its
influence in several important respects; and in none ought it to be more felt
than in the merit of diffusing the light and the advantages of Public
Instruction. In the example therefore which Kentucky is presenting, she not
only consults her own welfare, but is giving an impulse to any of her sisters
who may be behind her in the noble career.

Throughout the Civilized World, nations are courting the praise of
fostering Science and the useful Arts, and are opening their eyes to the
principles and the blessings of Representative Government. The American people
owe it to themselves, and to the cause of free Government, to prove by their
establishments for the advancement and diffusion of Knowledge, that their
political Institutions, which are attracting observation from every quarter,
and are respected as Models, by the new-born States in our own Hemisphere, are
as favorable to the intellectual and moral improvement of Man as they are
conformable to his individual & social Rights. What spectacle can be more
edifying or more seasonable, than that of Liberty & Learning, each leaning
on the other for their mutual & surest support?

The Committee, of which your name is the first, have taken a very
judicious course in endeavouring to avail Kentucky of the experience of elder
States, in modifying her Schools. I enclose extracts from the laws of Virginia
on that subject; though I presume they will give little aid; the less as they
have as yet been imperfectly carried into execution. The States where such
systems have been long in operation will furnish much better answers to many of
the enquiries stated in your Circular. But after all, such is the diversity of
local circumstances, more particularly as the population varies in density
& sparseness, that the details suited to some may be little so to others.
As the population however, is becoming less & less sparse, and it will be
well in laying the foundation of a Good System, to have a view to this
progressive change, much attention seems due to examples in the Eastern States,
where the people are most compact, & where there has been the longest
experience in plans of popular education.

I know not that I can offer on the occasion any suggestions not likely
to occur to the Committee. Were I to hazard one, it would be in favour of
adding to Reading, Writing, & Arithmetic, to which the instruction of the
poor, is commonly limited, some knowledge of Geography; such as can easily be
conveyed by a Globe & Maps, and a concise Geographical Grammar. And how
easily & quickly might a general idea even, be conveyed of the Solar
System, by the aid of a Planatarium of the Cheapest construction. No
information seems better calculated to expand the mind and gratify curiosity
than what would thus be imparted. This is especially the case, with what
relates to the Globe we inhabit, the Nations among which it is divided, and the
characters and customs which distinguish them. An acquaintance with foreign
Countries in this mode, has a kindred effect with that of seeing them as
travellers, which never fails, in uncorrupted minds, to weaken local
prejudices, and enlarge the sphere of benevolent feelings. A knowledge of the
Globe & its various inhabitants, however slight, might moreover, create a
taste for Books of Travels and Voyages; out of which might grow a general taste
for History, an inexhaustible fund of entertainment & instruction. Any
reading not of a vicious species must be a good substitute for the amusements
too apt to fill up the leisure of the labouring classes.

I feel myself much obliged Sir by your expressions of personal kindness,
and pray you to accept a return of my good wishes, with assurances of my great
esteem & respect.

P. S. On reflection I omit the extracts from the laws of Virga., which
it is probable may be within your reach at home. Should it be otherwise, and
you think them worth the transmission by the mail, the omission shall be
supplied.